The invention relates to toys reacting to external actions, including signals transmitted by other toys.
Toys relate to objects, which all people use. For children toys to a big extend determine the world around them, are a powerful means of development, up-bringing and education. For adults a toy can be a pleasant souvenir that entertains, helps to relieve stress, livens up the everyday routine or calls up memories.
Normally, toys are passive participants of interaction with the user, who using voice and imagination allots toys with speech and causes them to interact among themselves. For many years, we have known toys reacting to the activation by the user of their parts, for example, giving sounds when pressed. If toys are given an ability to interact to a certain extend independently with each other, thus, adding personality elements to each toy, letting them demonstrate emotions and respond to external actions and to other toys, the toy world will liven up, become more diverse and more instructive.
Voice-responsive xe2x80x9ctalkingxe2x80x9d toy is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,927, to Dankman, et al, 1980. This invention discloses a toy, which in response to a complex sound such as human speech, generates a train of audio pulses. The pulses are psuedo-random with respect to frequency composition and to duration. The length of the pulse train is made random, too. Thus, the toy simulates syllabic speech. In this toy mouth motions are also simulated when sounds are pronounced.
This toy imitates speech interaction with a person. However, this toy can not form different sounds in reply to different effects, that is create simulation of different responses reflecting its personality.
A talking doll responsive to external signal is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,840,602 to Rose, 1989. A remote source provides a narration and transmits a radio frequency signal providing binary coded data. The doll has a radio frequency receiver which receives encoded data from the remote signal source, a memory in which speech data is stored, a speech synthesizer and a central processing unit, which analyzes received data and accesses the memory for selected speech data to simulate the doll""s response to portions of the narration from the remote signal source. Thus, either a conversation or a story told together with the doll is simulated.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,030 to Rose, 1987 exposes conversing dolls. Two or more dolls with speech synthesizing systems appear to intelligently converse while signaling each other via a radio frequency transmission to indicate what has been spoken, and to request a response which is intelligent with respect to the synthesized speech of the first doll. Additionally, the synthesized speech is made responsive to various positions of the doll or the actuation of certain sensors on the doll, or even the motion of the doll. The choice of a program defining the contents of conversation between dolls is every time carried out as a random selection from several programs.
The last two inventions have certain limitations. All dolls that participate in a conversation have identical programs. Every time roles are given to the dolls by a random selection. Therefore, it is not possible to give any doll a permanent role or personality. Further, the interactions among dolls will be identical if we take, for example, different combinations of two dolls out of three available. Therefore, the possibilities to diversify the game with such dolls are rather restricted.
There is also an interactive doll shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,880 to Gabai et al, 1998. In this patent apparatus for a wireless computer controlled toy system is disclosed. The invention allows the user xe2x80x9cto conversexe2x80x9d with dolls. The phrases pronounced by the user are perceived by the device located in a doll and are broadcast to the computer, which will recognize these phrases, select answering phrases, synthesize speech and transmit it via radio back to the device inside the doll, that plays back answers. This patent also points out the possibility of interaction among dolls in such system.
However, this invention also has its limitations. The use of the computer makes the system expensive and complicated. Each doll taken separately is passive and can not reproduce any response without a link to the computer. The introduction of new dolls into the system requires execution of a series of operations with the control program on the computer, the task too difficult for the majority of users, especially for children.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,110,000 to Ting, 2000, discloses a doll set with unidirectional infrared communication for simulating conversation. One doll out of said doll set comprises an infrared signal transmitter, and anotherxe2x80x94a receiver. Both dolls comprise a means for reproducing sound signals or other actions. A first doll executes various actions according to the program therein and transmits data that determines responses of a second doll. Thus, the set imitates the interaction of two dolls, for example of their conversation.
The dolls according to U.S. Pat. No. 6,110,000 execute interaction programs prerecorded for each pair of doll. The first doll always reproduces the same phrases regardless what exact doll is in front of it or if there is any. This significantly limits possibilities for imitating the interaction between two toys.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,275 to Fong, et al., 2001, discloses interactive talking dolls, wherein each of the dolls comprises means for reproducing sound signals, for example fragments of speech, transmitter and receiver of infrared signals, control means, and a switch or a receiver of the remote control signal for activation. Upon activation, the toy performs a desired action, such as the enunciation of a speech pattern, and signals another toy to perform a responsive action. In this way the interaction between two toys is achieved.
Dolls according to U.S. Pat. No. 6,309,275 execute prerecorded interaction programs. The interaction is possible only if their memories comprise a recording of the interaction program for the given pair of dolls. This limits the expansion of toy sets by a simple introduction of new toys.
The same limitation applies to the interactive talking dolls according to U.S. Pat. No. 6,358,111 to Fong, et al., 2002, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,375,535 to Fong, et al., 2002.
It is the object of the present invention to provide interacting toys, each of which can transmit information about itself to other toys and receive information transmitted by other toys, and to respond to other toys according to the received information about other toys, so that responses of toys to each other imitate their mutual sympathy, antipathy and other interpersonal mutual relations.
Another object of the present invention is to provide interacting toys, each of which differently responds to other toys and to the activation by the user so that responses of toys imitate personalities and temperaments of characters represented by them, and mutual relations among these characters.
The further object of the present invention is to provide interacting toys, each of which will have the individuality so that even two toys of one type will have different behavior when interacting among themselves and with other toys, and also when affected by the user.
The next object of the present invention is to provide interacting toys that enable the user to add new toys to the existing toy community, thus getting new variants of behavior and mutual relations among toys.
The further object of the present invention is to provide interacting toys, the response of each of which to other toys and to the activation by the user imitates different emotional conditions of the personality represented by this toy and can have different degrees or intensities corresponding to degrees of an emotional condition.
The further object of the present invention is to provide interacting toys, the response of each of which gradually fades after the user terminates his/her activation and after other toys of the type are removed, and the time required for the response to fade can be preset differently for different toys to imitate personality features of characters represented by the toys.
The further object of the present invention is to provide interacting toys, which responses to other toys and the activation by the user to some extent depend on a random factor so that to make behavior of toys more diverse and to make playing with them more interesting.
The further object of the present invention is to provide interacting toys, which will form an open system that will give toy manufacturers a possibility to produce new toys, interacting among themselves, as well as with toys manufactured before, and add more and more new characters to the toy sets available on the market, thus, supporting interest of consumers to the product line.
The further object of the present invention is to provide interacting toys, the information exchange between which would be ensured by simple and cheap means to keep costs to the minimum.
The further object of the present invention is to provide interacting toys, in which different characters and different responses would be ensured by maximal unification of its circuits to reduce production costs of a great number of toy groups.
These and other objects of the invention are achieved in interacting toys, the description of which will be given below.
Interacting toys consist of a first toy and a second toy. The first toy contains a housing defining its shape and appearance, means for transmitting of messages containing information about this first toy, means for receiving of messages transmitted by the second toy and containing information about the second toy, means for reproduction of responses of the first toy to the second toy and to the activation by the user, storage means containing data about responses of the first toy to different second toys and to different types of the activation by the user. The second toy has the similar structure.
The first toy periodically sends messages about itself to the second toy and receives messages from the second toy. If the first toy detects the presence of the second toy, it responds to this fact, for example, by producing sounds that characterize the response of the first toy to the second toy. A type of response and degree of its intensity are determined by the information received from the second toy. The second toy operates similarly. Thus, simulation of different mutual relations between toys and the range of toys behavior models are provided.
Other objects, features and advantages of the invention shall become apparent as the description thereof proceeds when considered in connection with accompanying drawings.